Hero: 108 Ultimate
Summaries After Twin Masters was defeated, Tien Khuan warned that many challenges lay ahead for Big Green. When a demonic lord of illusions seeks to shatter Big Green’s unity, its heroes will confront enemies old and new to bring peace to Hidden Kingdom in this fan-made,52 episode third season. First Squad, deploy! Origins This story draws inspiration from the Origins comic that was published as a backstory to an earlier draft of the Hero: 108 storyline (sadly, it was never published in English, but large parts of it can be found in translation here.), online bios and backstory information from the now defunct website, and flashbacks in the TV show, particularly from the episodes Parrot Castle and The Eyes of Mighty Ray, Parts I and II. However, this is an original story, and written to reflect canon of the TV show as accurately as possible. I envision that, were it animated, it would function as something of a TV movie/mini-series, and thus the scope is intentionally larger than a regular episode of Hero: 108. As such, I hope to write every character as much in character as possible, and I welcome feedback. I should note that certain characters will not yet have undergone character developments that are well known in the show (for particular, ApeTrully is not yet as bold as he will become, and still has some self-doubt. On another note, for those who haven’t seen “Camel Castle” in a while, or don’t remember all of it, Lin Chung actually took up drawing sometime after Jumpy joined in “Rabbit Castle”, but before “Elephant Castle”. Before that, he was into wood carving.) Chapter 1: Monkey King: (Day 1) Monkey King meets some of the other animal kings at a historic animal location. They see how the preparations are being made for the New Year’s festival in a few short weeks. Some of the others mention how the animals used to rule in the days of the animal lords. ApeTrully tries to point out some of the things that happened in those days, but they don’t much listen. It comes up that only a few animals have gone to East Citadel in many years, Monkey King himself being one of them. As they proceed, ApeTrully is separated from the rest and pulled aside by the zebra brothers, who try to recruit him to the side of HighRoller, whom they mention. Monkey King is disgusted by this idea, and attempts to leave, but is halted. They attempt to bribe him with candy, which he resists eating. He manages to slip out, but they call on Bearstomp, who helps them pursue him them through the woods. In the epilogue, Lin Chung arrives in the area of East Citadel, and talks with a human, who tells him that many humans are making their way to East Citadel for the games. ' C'hapter 2: The Human Elders:' (Day 2) Monkey King manages to shake his pursuers narrowly, and wonders whom he ought to warn about this. ApeTrully reflects on what he has seen, the humans and animals together in joyful harmony. He remembers scenes from the opening sequence of the show. He considers going to Parrot King, but realizes that he does not know where Parrot Castle is, nor is he sure whether any of his friends know. He resolves to instead tell the human elders, and goes to their compound in a fortified city. On the way, he fears that humans will not listen to a monkey, and manages to adapt a ceremonial outfit (itself an exaggerated human likeness) into a costume he believes will cause others to think him human, and makes up the name ApeTrully. Bribing the guard, he enters the compound and meets the councilors, including Woo the Wise, the newest addition to the council. He shows off his knowledge in the debate but is ignored. (Air Force cameos?) ApeTrully is ignored. When he leaves, he is taken for questioning by rogues. '''Chapter 3: Up in Smoke:' He manages to escape when the city is attacked by animals, and he manages to save Woo the Wise as the other humans flee. In the smoke, he sees a human figure, and believes that this may be the one known as HighRoller. The two run and resolve to enter the marshlands, where HighRoller’s heavy artillery will not pursue them. In the swamp, they are set upon by wild animals startled by the presence of humans, and ApeTrully demonstrates his ability to speak the language of animals. In the confusion, they are found by a local farmer, Gardener Ching. Meanwhile, a large trail of humans make their way to East Citadel, intending to see the New Year’s games. Among them is Mighty Ray, who wonders what has happened to Mr. No Hands. Chapter 4: The Calabash Farm: Ching takes Woo and ApeTrully in, but they warn him that trouble is approaching. (Day 3) The following day, they go for supplies in the local village of Candido Fiore, where they learn that the humans have heard rumors of animal hostilities and mounting hostilities with a local animal tribe (owls?). As the conflict escalates, ApeTrully arrives and impresses everyone with his diplomatic skills, and further demonstrates his extensive knowledge of the history and lore of Hidden Kingdom, while Woo also helps with his inventions. In the crowd, although he does not realize it, is Mr. No Hands. The humans and animals go far and wide and tell of the surprising abilities of ApeTrully. Meanwhile, Sonia works in a bun shop. Chapter 5: The Road to the Games: The following day, (Day 4) ApeTrully wakes up to Ching informing him that a huge crowd has appeared outside of the farmhouse, believing him to be a wise and powerful man. ApeTrully appears to them, and they cheer and begin to seek his counsel. It seems that there are far more of them than usually live in the village because they are right on the road to East Citadel, where everyone is heading for the games. Alongside Woo the Wise, he helps them as much as he can, noting that they need all the friends they can make. (Arc words about making allies.) In the crowd is General Kwan, who laments that no one takes him seriously because of his silly face. ApeTrully and Woo the Wise convince him to stick around until they think of a solution. At the end of the day, they meet Mr. No Hands, who tells them of his own problem and how he had it solved. He relates a story, which in the end explains why he believed he needed to make the acquaintance of ApeTrully. However, he must depart for the New Year’s games. Before he goes, he warns ApeTrully that he has heard about turmoil in the north. Chapter 6: New Arrivals: (Day 5) The day after that ApeTrully has a dream where he remembers the Stone Monkey Deity, whom he has met once before for his coronation. However, ApeTrully remembers being afraid of him and wakes up in poor spirits. ApeTrully begins to worry about the state of things and is unavailable to hear the questions of more travelers. He remains inside until Woo brings in someone interesting: one of the Ruan sailor brothers, who has become invisible because of the venom of a legendary eel, the story of which he recounts. ApeTrully tells him of an antidote, but informs him that it will take several doses, carefully administered at the proper times, to restore his visibility. Otherwise he will disappear permanently. ApeTrully, afterward, decides to leave to see another animal whom he believes might know the location of Parrot Castle. Meanwhile, WuSung arrives, badly beaten, carried by other human villagers, and tells them that he has arrived from the northern mountains, where he was investigating as strange rash of cavities, only to learn that someone has been producing a great amount of candy there. Investigating the source, he found a conspiracy of animals and learned that they plan to attack East Citadel. WuSung realizes that he is too late to make it to East Citadel in time: it is probably already happening. Meanwhile, ApeTrully has already left. Chapter 7: Escape from East Citadel: The story of the escape from East Citadel is told through the eyes of Alpha Girl and Kowloon, who help to hold off the animals coming after the group they are running with, and plunge into the bay surrounding East Citadel. Chapter 8: ApeTrully, disconcerted, has decided that enough is enough and has gone out to find his old friends, certain that one of them must know the location of Parrot King’s castle. He is informed on arrival that they have left for East Citadel already. Terrified, he hurries toward East Citadel, where he sees smoke on the horizon. Powerless to help the situation, he ditches his disguise and is pulled aside by a group of animals, and pretends to be with them, knowing that he is powerless to stop the situation. (He once again wishes for allies.) As the humans are rounded up, he sees animals approaching from many nearby castles, including Parrot King and Rabbit King. Inside, he first lays eyes on HighRoller, who explains the treachery of humans and hands out lollipops, while the animals cheer. Monkey King runs outside, disgusted. Meanwhile, Mr. No Hands descends and makes camp, tired from carrying Mighty Ray, and tells him that they will make it to the domain of a powerful being the next day. Chapter 9: ApeTrully arrives at the farmhouse in the wee hours of the morning and stares out, dejectedly. Woo and Gardener Ching try to convince him there was nothing he could have done, but he is left thinking about all those he has been unable to help. Suddenly, they hear the sound of Mr. No Hands bringing Mighty Ray. ApeTrully approaches him, and feels pity for Mighty Ray, still blaming himself for what happened. He decides to put his fears behind him, and takes Mighty Ray to the Stone Monkey Deity, believing that he will help right the wrongs. The Money Deity gives his powerful eyes to Mighty Ray, who trains with ApeTrully for the remainder of the day. After that, they part ways, as Mighty Ray says that he needs to go see to the refugees. This, however, is a lie, and Mighty Ray goes instead to fight HighRoller alone. Chapter 10: Mr. No Hands goes to the calabash farm to inquire after the whereabouts of Mighty Ray. He and ApeTrully realize that Mighty Ray never returned to the human camp and conclude that he almost certainly went to challenge HighRoller alone. They realize that if Mighty Ray wins, it will all be over, but dread what will happen if HighRoller could find a way to use Mighty Ray’s eyes for his own purposes. (Mighty Ray blows that hole in the wall of the throne room.) ApeTrully returns to the stone monkey and learns the location of the eyeballs and of HighRoller. He reconvenes with Woo and No Hands, and learn that the humans in the camps have abandoned hope and are preparing to mount a surprise attack. No Hands claims that he is not confident that they can win, but he must join them. ApeTrully fears a battle, and argues that he believes he can talk HighRoller out of this, because he has a plan. Chapter 11: ApeTrully finds HighRoller on the water with his new fleet. He glides down, alone and unarmed, whereupon he offers HighRoller gold. HighRoller is unimpressed. ApeTrully warns HighRoller that the humans are preparing to attack East Citadel, thinking he will back down, but instead he chooses to rally all of his animals. He kicks ApeTrully off of the ship into the water, where a whale swallows him. Meanwhile, on the land, the animals hear the horn of HighRoller and race to attack the humans. Chapter 12: The humans wage war with the animals, but it turns out to be a losing battle. Woo sees the animals coming for him and runs for shelter, but can’t escape from the hordes. He finds himself cowering with Kwan, who is panicking. In his stress, he insults the huge musclebound warrior for being to pathetic, until a little bit of anger comes out, and Woo has an idea. He gives Kwan an enormous wedgie, enough to make him fierce and powerful, and he repels the nearby animals, giving Woo enough time to think. He remembers the words that ApeTrully told him about gaining allies, and decides that he must save the strongest warriors from being taken by HighRoller, so that they may regroup and fight another day, which he does using slug slime. Meanwhile, Lin Chung sees all of this, and refuses to fight for either side, but instead protects the weak and vulnerable of each side. ApeTrully opens his eyes inside the whale. Chapter 13: Retaliation: '''Woo releases the heroes he has collected, and deposits them in a place free of the animals while the other humans flee or are captured. He offers them a chance to go after HighRoller himself, informing them that he is no longer behind the walls of East Citadel. They enthusiastically agree. They make their way to the cliff and attack HighRoller’s fleet, but are again overwhelmed by numbers and their inability to work effectively as a team. ApeTrully’s whale is rocked and he uses his tail to grab the key, allowing himself to escape his shackles and swim for it. He escapes the whale, but ends up free floating. The human warriors sink most of the fleet, but HighRoller calls out his sharks. '''Chapter 14: The Depths: Faced with the powerful shark army, the humans attempt to hold their own jumping between sinking debris. One of their number is dragged underwater, and a rescue puts them in more danger. Archer Lee manages to strike directly at HighRoller, who officially decides to leave, but still calls on the sharks. Overwhelmed, the arrival of Lin Chung helps to turn the tides, and they manage to drag themselves ashore in one piece. Meanwhile, ApeTrully ends up floating on the water half-drowned, but many things move through his unconscious mind. Chapter 15: The heroes argue among themselves about who got in their way, and Lin Chung showing up out of nowhere. Woo comes ashore and scolds them for their lack of teamwork, but stumbles revealing his injury. He claims that they need to find ApeTrully, but Mr. No Hands objects that they also need to find Mighty Ray. The sailor brother brings ashore a piece of a boat, which he proposes using to track ApeTrully, but it will only take three. Woo wants to go, but Gardener Ching insists he take him back to the Calabash farm. WuSung and Redface Kwan agree to go on the boat, while Mr. No Hands explains that he believes that he believes the Imperial Cannonball Brigade is still in hiding, but if they can be found, an organized attack can be made. The rest agree to go with him. Meanwhile, HighRoller returns to East Citadel and reveals that he has a very clever idea. Chapter 16: The heroes pass the time by explaining their identities. In the end, HighRoller reveals his map. He then finds his three strongest warriors, and assigns them the task of bringing down the humans. Chapter 17: Adrift: '''ApeTrully drifts on the waves, having dreams that reflect his worries and insecurities, including that he spent so long away from Monkey Castle, that he has run away from responsibility, that he is not strong enough to help anyone, and that he is a poor strategist. In the end, he is told that no, his strategies are not great, but the world needs someone who will never sink to its level, but elevate everyone around him. '''Chapter 18: The heroes find the tank army with the help of Lin Chung’s panther vision. However, they discover that the humans are being hunted by animal insurgents. (Not the ligers.) They get into a fight, but manage to give the animals a run for their money after releasing the mosquitoes and their queen. This gets reported back to HighRoller, who decides to examine his map. Chapter 19: Alpha Girl and Kowloon make their way north to the real human prison. Possibly they get waylaid. Backstory? Chapter 20: The seafaring party run afoul of pirates, but they manage to escape thanks to the sailor brother’s invisibility. Lady Green cameos, but returns to the sea. (Alternatively, they fight the crabs first, while trapped on a tidal island and are then rescued by the other sailor brothers. Then they meet the pirates and Lady Green, then they are wrecked on the island with the air force.)